A variety of commercial compressors are known. Many industries, commercial businesses and residential homes utilize compressors for water pumps, air-conditioning units and the like. Because of the great demand for compressors, the compressor industry constantly strives to improve the durability and quality of operation of the compressor.
There are presently available compressors that operate fairly efficiently and which are moderately durable. These existing compressors generally have well-made components which greatly increases the life of these compressor. However, even the highest quality of these compressors require periodic maintenance and replacement of old or malfunctioning component parts. A common compressor maintenance problem is that the fan belts become loose after use and require periodic tension adjustment. However, tension adjustment of the fan belts is extremely time consuming and usually creates additional problems. The additional problems created by tension adjustment to the fan belts involve the dismantling of component parts and are better understood given an understanding of the structure of a compressor.
A typical compressor includes an assortment of component parts which are extremely compact and close fitting. For example, the fan belt is generally centrally located between the fan guard and motor on one side and the fan orifice ring, cooler fan and cooler on the other side. These component parts are concentrically aligned around the hub of the motor and accordingly, this concentric alignment, coupled with the extremely close fit between the component parts, prohibits even a slight variation from the normal positions of the parts to maintain proper compressor operation.
However, despite the above-described structural limitations of existing compressors, maintenance procedures require that various component parts be dismantled to effectuate tension adjustments of the fan belt. The dismantling of component parts to adjust the fan belt is necessary because the fan belt is positioned centrally between a plurality of component parts and is not accessible without removal of other parts. Thus, when the fan belt malfunctions due to loose tension of the belt and requires tension adjustment, numerous component parts must be removed to provide access to the fan belt. For example, the tension adjustment of the fan belt requires, in part, dismantling and removing the orifice fan guard and the orifice fan ring. The removal of parts to adjust the tension of the fan belt necessitates reassembly of the parts back to their original state. It is often reassembly of the parts which causes other compressor problems including, but not limited to: improper alignment of parts; improper assembly and replacement of parts; and damage to parts caused by repeated removal and reassembly. Moreover, the reassembly of the parts is extremely time consuming and often very expensive, especially in the case of industries which depend upon a properly functioning compressor.